After the meeting between Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne, the U.S. Embassy released a statement saying the incident wouldn't affect the bilateral agenda, including cooperative measures to confront the global economic crisis.

Mr. Taiana called for the meeting after a news briefing Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta. Mr. Panetta told of meeting "someone from Latin America" who had told him of "some serious problems ... that involve economic instability."

He later identified the problem countries as Argentina, Venezuela and Ecuador. On Thursday, Mr. Taiana said Mr. Panetta's comments were "unrespectful, unfounded and immature," and called for a meeting with Ambassador Wayne.

The embassy statement said Mr. Panetta's remarks didn't reflect official U.S. opinion. Rather, the statement said, Mr. Panetta was repeating commentaries by a foreign official.

A U.S. diplomatic source characterized the atmosphere of the Friday meeting, which last more than an hour, as "cordial."

The flap comes as Argentina is coping with the global downturn, facing large debt-service payments this year while its farm industry is hobbled by weak prices and drought.

It also comes as Argentina's left-leaning President Cristina Kirchner had signaled a wish to improve Argentina's tattered relationship with the U.S. with the arrival of the new administration in Washington.

Argentine analyst Federico Thomsen said Mr. Taiana's complaints were largely directed at a domestic, political audience, but that Mrs. Kirchner likely isn't interested in roiling the waters with President Barack Obama.

Argentina's relations with Washington and other wealthy countries soured after it announced the largest sovereign-debt default in history in 2001. They got worse in the following years under Mrs. Kirchner's predecessor, her husband Nestor. During his tenure, Argentina drew closer to Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, who made large purchases of Argentine bonds.

Riordan Roett, a Latin America specialist at Johns Hopkins University, says the Obama administration's priorities in Latin America will be Mexico, for security reasons, and Brazil, for geopolitical ones.

Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com